Tommyknocker 50K

A few weeks ago I ran my 2nd 50K, the Tommyknocker 50k.  This was the 1st race put on by Human Potential and I am honored to have been a part of their inaugural race!Running
Post hail/rain storm!
My first 50K was the Dirty30 so just going off of the elevation profile alone I was convinced the Tommyknocker 50k would be easier.  I was quickly proven wrong as the up hills on this course are at that deceiving angle where you feel like a tool walking but running was a chore.  Most of the up hills I felt like the kindergartener who reverts to power walking after getting yelled at for running in the halls.  Am I done yet?
Leaving the last aid station, already have my 50k distance in.
The 1st half of the race went extremely well for me, the nutrition game was going great, no muscle pain, and I was in an awesome place mentally. Around the 20 mile point is where the wheels kind of fell off for me.  It turns out an angry land owner reflagged the course which caused a large portion of the 50k field to go the wrong way.  I first realized something was wrong when I started recognizing features that I had passed just before the 2nd aid station.  The reason things looked oddly familiar is because I had ran this section of the course already! At this point I was with a decent sized group of the 50k runners who were also on the wrong section of the course.  Our only option was to back track to the correct section of the course which was back up the massive hill we had just ran down.  After finding out we had gone multiple miles off track I completely lost the mental mojo I had going for me.  After that point any time goals I had just kind of went out the window and the goal was to just finish.  The reflag of the course put a huge gap in between the 3rd and 4th aid stations which put me in a crappy place for hydration.  Luckily the race director and volunteers realized this had happened and started a mobile aid station to get people water. I am extremely impressed with how these guys adapted to a crappy situation that was out of their control to correct it.  At the end of the day I ended up with 40 miles which is 7 more miles than I had planned on, but I definitely felt accomplished at the end of the day!
Othman Rocks!
Othman and his $250 boulder
A little side note.  The race director offered a $250 prize for anyone who brought him the orange boulder placed along the trail. When I was about 5 miles from the finish I noticed distinct boulder shaped drag marks on the ground.  I had honestly forgotten about this challenge until I came up on Othman dragging the boulder on a pine tree branch. This was a very entertaining to watch for sure!  About a hour later he came down the road with a police escort and a death grip on the boulder!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

One thought on “Tommyknocker 50K”